“La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem, was originally sung by the Revolutionary Army as it marched forth to defend “la république” against European monarchies who wished to quash the revolution as soon as it began. It’s a song of war, calling Frenchmen to take up arms against “foreign cohorts” who would “strike down” France’s “proud warriors.” The politics have changed, but France is now once again under attack.
This week was supposed to be the beginning of a slow return to normalcy. After voting to extend its state of emergency three times, the French Parliament had opted to let the extreme actions, dubbed Operation Sentinel, lapse at the conclusion of the Euro 2016 soccer tournament and the Tour de France.
Instead, a terrorist attack in Nice on Thursday left more than 84 dead and scores injured after Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian man, drove a large truck through crowds gathered to watch the Bastille Day fireworks. Lahouaiej Bouhlel was eventually shot dead by police.
In the aftermath of the attack, French lawmakers rushed to renew the emergency measures yet again. Speaking to the nation early Friday morning, President François Hollande said that he and the defense and interior ministers had decided to present parliament with a bill to “maintain Operation Sentinel at a high level,” which enables the government to “mobilize 10,000 soldiers, in addition to gendarmes and police.”
Additionally, Hollande said the government had decided to draw upon operational reserves, including army veterans and former members of the gendarmerie “to come and help relieve the pressure on the police and gendarmes.” These forces will be deployed wherever needed, particularly for border patrol.
Members of parliament supported the proposal and spoke of potentially making the measures permanent.
“We are faced with a permanent war. We cannot continue to ask every three months if the [state of emergency] continues. So I think we must be placed in a permanent state of emergency,” said Olivier Falorni, a conservative member of parliament, who also spoke of the need for “radical actions.”
The laws permitted police to raid suspects’ homes without a court order and hold people considered to be “a threat to security and public order” under house arrest without permission from a judge. Troops deployed to patrol potentially volatile areas of Paris and elsewhere in France would have remained.
Prior to the attack, however, many had been questioning the effectiveness of the emergency measures. An inquiry questioned the added value of the thousands of men stationed around schools, synagogues, department stores and other sensitive sites, finding that the massive effort had had only a “limited impact” on security. In the aftermath of the Nice attacks, it’s a finding which will doubtless be revisited.
It is uncertain how effective the current emergency measures would be in stopping attacks like the one in Nice. Although the driver was armed and did fire shots on police and others who attempted to stop him as he drove through the crowd, the majority of casualties were a result of the size of the truck itself.
The French press has been asking how Lahouaiej Bouhlel, identified in the press as a delivery-truck driver, was able to rent the large vehicle. After investigating, the Paris paper Libération was shocked to discover that unlike firearms, which are difficult to purchase in France, a truck can be booked in advance and rented by anyone with a valid truck driving license, an address and phone number, and the necessary security deposit. These trucks are generally used for shipping and moving, and there has never been a need for further security measures.
“France was hit on its National Day, 14 July, the symbol of freedom,” Hollande said in his speech, “because human rights are denied by the fanatics, and because France is obviously their target.”
